


It Takes a Starship...

by ShayneyL



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Episode: s04e18-19 The Killing Game, Gen, Platonic Bed Sharing, They're just friends I swear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-08-10 21:27:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20142244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShayneyL/pseuds/ShayneyL
Summary: What happened to Naomi during "The Killing Game."





	It Takes a Starship...

**Author's Note:**

> Writer's Month 2019, Day 6. The prompt is "kids."

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

"Get up!" Harry grunted as a heavy blow landed in his ribs. He rolled over. A Hirogen was standing over him. 

"I said get up," the Hirogen said, and kicked Harry in the ribs again. 

Harry scrambled to his feet as best he could. He remembered the attack, the Hirogen boarding, and the captain trying to initiate the self-destruct, only to find it was too damaged to operate. Then the hunters swarmed onto the bridge. He raised a phaser to protect his captain, then...nothing. He was surprised he wasn't dead.

"You leaked bodily fluids. Clean it up," the Hirogen said, and slapped Harry across the face, hard enough to send him sprawling. 

Harry looked down at himself, wondering if he was bleeding. No, but he'd vomited after being stunned, and it looked like a lot of other people had, too. 

Where were they? There were only scant traces of blood...not the kind of mess you'd expect if the Hirogen had taken their usual trophies.

He glared furiously at his attacker, wanting nothing more than to hit back. But the Hirogen was heavily armed, not to mention much bigger. Deciding discretion was the better part of valor, at least for now, he got up again and went toward his Ops console.

"What are you doing?" the Hirogen asked suspiciously, raising his weapon.

"Cleaning up the mess, like you said," Harry said. He activated the floor cleaners and increased the ventilation on the bridge. Surreptitiously, he checked the sensors. _Voyager_ was surrounded by Hirogen vessels. He tried scanning for lifesigns aboard the ship; there were a lot more than there should be. He couldn't tell without closer examination how many were human and how many Hirogen.

"You are a technician?" the Hirogen asked.

Harry didn't answer. It was against protocol to give that information to the enemy. 

The Hirogen assumed silence was assent. "Good. Two holodecks aren't enough. You will create more."

* * *

There was a mountain of discarded uniforms in sickbay. Harry gathered them up for recycling. There was something incongruous about the crew and the Hirogen dressing in costumes for the holodeck in this situation, but it was easier to wear the costumes the programs had been designed for than to change the programming. 

He recognized Janeway's uniform in the pile. Only one person had four pips on her collar. There was one that might have been Tom's, but there were a lot of tall lieutenants in red uniforms on board, and he couldn't be sure. He recognized Tuvok's uniform as well, from its lieutenant commander's pips, and switched his own jacket for Tuvok's. Tuvok's was cleaner, and didn't smell like puke. The rest, he recycled. They could replicate new uniforms if...when they needed them.

"Ensign Kim, are you all right?" It was the Doctor, taking a moment from adjusting neural interfaces.

"Get back to work," one of the Hirogen guards ordered. The Doctor hesitated, then obeyed. Turning to Harry, the guard said, "You, return to the bridge."

With a sinking feeling, Harry realized that for all practical purposes, he was in charge. He was the only member of the senior staff who was in any condition to mount a counterattack, and there was no higher-ranking officer among those left out of the hunt. 

His first thought had been for his friends...Tom, B'Elanna, Seven. When he realized he was effectively in charge, he thought about the captain. He had to rescue her. 

Then he remembered the most important duty of a commander: to protect those who were most vulnerable. Naomi. God. How could he have forgotten Naomi?

He was sure Sam Wildman was on the holodecks. The Hirogen were strangely fascinated with the women on board, and were curious to see how well they fought. Apparently, female Hirogen did not hunt. 

Instead of going to the bridge as ordered, Harry rushed to the Wildmans' quarters, on deck 4. 

"What are you doing?" Two Hirogen, guarding the corridor, lifted their weapons.

"There's a child in cabin 124-7," Harry said. "A juvenile. She can't be left alone too long."

The Hirogen looked at each other. 

"There's no sport in hunting a baby. Let me check on her."

"A...nest?" one of the Hirogen said. "This vessel has a nest?"

"Yes," Harry said. Well, close enough. 

"Inform the Alpha," one of the Hirogen ordered the other. 

* * *

It had taken awhile, but eventually the Hirogen agreed to put Harry in charge of the "nest." He gathered up some supplies and headed to the Wildmans' quarters. This time, the Hirogen guards let him pass.

Harry signaled at the door. When there was no answer, he overrode the lock and entered. The room beyond was empty. "Naomi?" he called. "It's me, Ensign Kim." 

There was silence, then suddenly the closet door opened. There was a flash of strawberry blonde hair, and Naomi Wildman was wrapped around his waist like a boa constrictor, sobbing. "Mom told me to hide until she came back, but she never came back."

"Shhh, it's all right, Naomi. Everything's going to be all right." Harry wasn't at all sure about that, but he said it with as much confidence as he could muster. When he was a kid, he always told himself he would never lie to children when he was a grown up. Adulthood was proving more complicated than he'd ever imagined back then. 

She turned a tear-streaked face up to him. "Where's Mom? Is she okay?"

"She's fine," Harry said. "But she can't come see you now."

"Can I talk to her?"

"The Hirogen are in charge for now, and they won't let her," Harry said, truthfully. 

"Why not?" 

"I don't know." Harry gently disengaged from the child's grip so he could put the container of ration packs he was carrying down on the table. The Hirogen had priority for the replicators; the humans were mostly eating emergency rations, which the occupiers had no interest in. He had chosen the best out of their stores; when he said they were for Naomi, no one objected. Indeed, many had given up rations they had already taken for themselves. "Are you hungry?" 

Naomi shook her head. Harry began rummaging around in the box anyway. "Pizza? Spaghetti and meatballs? Macaroni and cheese?" He thought he saw a flicker of interest in her eyes at the mention of that last, so he opened it up, triggering the automatic heating function.

"Sit," he told her. She obeyed, and he put the meal in front of her. She began eating. Ravenously, Harry noticed. He wondered when she'd last eaten. 

Harry was pretty hungry himself. So hungry the synthetic cheese sauce smelled good. He fished a ration cube out of his pocket and unwrapped it. 

"Wouldn't you rather have pizza or something?" Naomi asked, looking askance at the ration cube.

He would, but he wasn't sure how long the meal-style ration packs would last, and he wanted Naomi to have them while they did. "I like ration cubes," Harry said, lying to her again. 

She made a face. Harry bit into the flavorless cube.

Naomi ate all her meal. Raised on _Voyager_, she was good about not wasting anything. Harry felt a little sad about that. In the Alpha Quadrant, she'd never have had to worry about resources. Harry's parents would have been horrified at their son having to ration food...or anything else. 

Naomi recycled the empty ration container, then came back to stand beside Harry. "Are you going to stay with me?" she asked.

Harry hesitated. He didn't have much experience with children. He didn't even have any siblings. But someone probably should stay with her. He didn't know anything about the development of half-Ktarian children, but he suspected that she was too young to be on her own full-time. 

Her mother was deep in a holodeck sim, and no longer remembered her daughter. Neelix, Naomi's other main caregiver, was also on the holodecks. Harry thought about the others who had been deemed unworthy prey, and didn't think Naomi was particularly close to any of them.

"Please," Naomi said.

"All right," Harry said. "Tell you what, I'll move in here, until your mom gets back." He needed new quarters anyway. His cabin was on Deck 6, and the Hirogen were sacrificing crew quarters in that section to expand the holodecks. He had been planning to move into Tom's quarters on Deck 4, but the Wildmans' would do just as well. 

"Thank you, Harry!" 

He didn't mind the use of his first name, but he knew Sam would disapprove. She wanted Naomi to address adults properly. Even an adult like Harry, who hadn't been adult that long, and still felt like an imposter. "You know your mom doesn't like you calling me that."

"Thank you, Ensign Harry," she said. Close enough. Harry gave her a hug. 

"I have to leave to go to work sometimes," he said. "But I'll be back each night."

* * *

Harry was exhausted, but some vague discomfort woke him. He was hot. And cramped. Slowly he remembered where he was. Sleeping on the Wildmans' couch. With Naomi squished up against him, he realized. What was she doing here? 

He got up, picked her up gently, and carried her back to her bed. She woke, and wound her arms around him. "Stay with me, Ensign Harry."

"Naomi, you're a big girl now. You can sleep alone." He dimly remembered having similar conversations with his parents, from the other end. 

"Please, I had a bad dream."

Not surprising. This whole situation was a living nightmare. Poor Naomi. She'd been good as gold, all things considered. And Harry was so tired, he wasn't up for an argument. He turned and went to Samantha's bedroom. "We'll sleep in your mom's bed tonight." There just wasn't room on the couch for both of them. 

He tucked Naomi in on one side, and got in on the other. She immediately cuddled up against him. "I want my mom," she whispered.

"I know, sweetheart," Harry said. He stroked her hair until she fell asleep.

* * *

"You have another boo-boo," Naomi said. She was eating a ratamba stew with pasta pack. Harry was eating another ration cube. "You should go to sickbay."

"I'm okay," Harry said. "I'll see the Doctor later." He didn't want to tell her that the Doctor was so busy treating people "killed" on the holodecks that he didn't have time for "boo-boos," or anything short of fatal injuries. She might worry that she wouldn't get treatment if she got sick, or start to realize what her mother, currently in the Klingon simulation, was facing.

Naomi seemed to accept his answer. "I'm bored," she said. "I miss Flotter."

"I'm sure he misses you, too. But the Hirogen are using all the holodeck time. No one else can run any programs."

"They're selfish," Naomi proclaimed.

"Yes, yes, they are." Selfish was the least of it. 

"Can you read to me?"

"You know how to read."

"It's not the same. Mom reads to me every night."

Actually, Harry's mom had done the same for him, until he was almost a teenager. She was a teacher, and believed reading to children was the most important thing you could do for them. Even after they could read for themselves.

"All right," Harry agreed. He made a note to himself to find Naomi some games she could play on her own during the day. Sam didn't like Naomi playing too many computer games, but surely she'd make an exception for this situation. 

It was harder than he expected to find a book to read to Naomi. Sam had a list of books she was planning to read to her daughter, but a surprising number of them included death and violence. Which might be okay in what passed for normal on _Voyager_, but not now, with her mother not there to discuss it, and the Hirogen killing people every day. _Little Women_...if he remembered correctly, a major character died in that one. _Number the Stars_...not something Harry felt like reading, with half the crew in a World War II simulation with the safeties off. _The Secret Garden_...the story of a girl left alone after her parents died in an epidemic. A bunch of Ktarian books that he didn't want to risk without knowing what was in them. Finally he settled on one of his childhood favorites. It had violence, but it wasn't too realistic, and death, but no major characters died until the very end. Hopefully they'd be out of this situation by then.

He tucked Naomi into Sam's bed, and settled beside her, reading from a padd. "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit..."

* * *

Harry rushed down to the Wildmans' quarters as soon as the corridors were clear. Naomi woke up as he entered. She pouted. "You didn't come home last night." 

He'd commed her and told her to go to bed, but he hadn't been able to leave his station until now. "Sorry, there was...an emergency." It was hard not to just blurt out that the Hirogen had been ousted and she would be seeing her mom soon, but he didn't want to get her too excited until he got the word from the Doctor that Sam would be all right, and could have visitors. Instead, he said, "Go take a shower. I'll get you breakfast."

"The shower's not working."

"It is now. Just sonics, but better than nothing. Replicators are working, too. What do you want for breakfast?"

"Pancakes! And bacon!" Naomi said excitedly. 

"Take your shower, and it'll be ready when you come out." She jumped out of bed and headed toward the bathroom at warp speed. "Put on clean clothes afterwards!" he called after her. He didn't want Sam to think he didn't take care of her daughter.

Harry commed the Doc while Naomi was in the bathroom. Sam would be all right, but it would be about an hour before she woke up from the surgery to remove the neural implant. Just as well. He could use the time to clean up the cabin. He was usually a tidy person, but keeping up housekeeping with a young child while most of the ship's services weren't working was difficult, and it showed. 

He looked through the Wildmans' replicator favorites, and found the one Naomi wanted. Uttaberry pancakes with butter and syrup, bacon, orange juice and milk. He had it on the table when Naomi came out, cleaner than she'd been in weeks, and she clapped her hands with joy. 

"Eat up," Harry told her, picking up scattered clothes and tossing them in the 'fresher.

He waited until she finished her breakfast before he told her. He was afraid she would be too excited to eat otherwise.

"We need to clean this place up," he said, stripping the sheets off the bed. "Help me get the fresh sheets on."

"Why?"

"Because your mom will be here today, and I don't want her to think we're slobs."

Naomi's mouth dropped open. She just stared for a long moment. "Really?" she finally said. Tears were welling her eyes.

"Really," Harry said. She threw herself into his arms. He held her for a moment. "Now come on, the sooner we get this place cleaned up, the sooner we can go see her."

Naomi sprang up and got to work. 

Before long, everything was spic and span, and Harry had brushed out Naomi's hair. He couldn't create any of the fancy styles Sam did, so he just pulled it back into a pony tail. "There. All neat and pretty for your mom. Let's go."

Naomi held Harry's hand, skipping happily beside him as they headed to the mess hall. Harry explained that the mess hall was a temporary sick bay now, and that her mom had needed medical care but was fine now.

Sam was watching for them as the mess hall doors slid open. With a cry, Naomi rushed into her mother's embrace. Harry watched for a second, then slipped away. Some moments were too private to share.

* * *

"All turbolifts are working," Harry reported. "And sickbay is back online."

"Excellent news," the captain said. "Harry, you're off duty."

"No, I'm not," Harry said, puzzled. "My shift doesn't end for two more hours." Was she unhappy with his work?

"This isn't a punishment, Harry." She smiled, and Harry realized it had been a very long time since he'd seen her smile. He relaxed a little. "You've put in a lot of extra hours over the past two weeks," Janeway said. "And I'm sure you didn't get much time off during the Hirogen occupation. I'm ordering you to take some time off now and rest."

"But..." Harry glanced at his console. B'Elanna would be expecting him to keep her updated.

"Don't worry, I'll handle it," the captain said, stepping up to take Harry's place. "Oh, don't look so shocked. You know captains have experience in all departments, including Operations."

Harry still wanted to object. The captain was surely tired, too. She'd worked harder than anyone. But she said, "Dismissed, Ensign," and was giving him what Tom called "the glare of doom," so he only said, "Yes, Captain," and headed for his quarters.

Actually, Tom's quarters. Crew quarters were low on the list of priorities, and Harry's had been turned into part of the Hirogen's expanded holodeck. Samantha was back in her quarters with Naomi, so Harry was crashing on Tom's couch. 

He entered quietly, in case Tom was sleeping, but the rooms were deserted. Harry settled on the couch. He didn't lie down. It was too early for bed. But his body had other ideas, and soon he was sound asleep.

* * *

"Harry."

Harry groaned, not ready to wake up. "Go to sleep, Naomi," he muttered.

Someone shook his shoulder. Someone much stronger than Naomi should be, and with a deeper voice. "Harry, wake up."

Harry opened his eyes, to find Tom leaning over him. He was confused for a moment, then everything slid into place. It was Tom, the Tom he knew, who knew him. He was in Tom's quarters. Naomi was safe, with her mom. All was right in the Delta Quadrant. Well, close enough.

"Harry, if you sleep like that all night your neck is going to kill you."

Good point. His neck already ached. He rubbed it, wondering what time it was. "Did I miss dinner?" He was so hungry even leola root stew would be welcome.

"Yes, but fear ye not. Sam is buying you dinner."

"Why?"

"She wants to thank you for taking care of Naomi during the Hirogen occupation."

"That's not necessary," Harry protested. "I didn't do anything special." But he let Tom drag him to the Mess Hall, curious. And starving. There were a lot of people there, considering it was after dinner, but Sam wasn't. "Where's Sam?" Harry asked Neelix.

"She'll be here in a minute. She's putting Naomi to bed." 

They sat him at a table. Neelix brought out a covered dish, and put down in front of him with a flourish. He lifted the lid...revealing a foil-wrapped ration cube.

"A ration cube?" Harry said, puzzled and disappointed.

"Naomi said they were your favorite," Neelix said. "She said you wouldn't eat anything else."

"Oh...yeah. My favorite." Harry would be happy if he never saw a ration cube again, but he gamely reached for the one set before him.

Only to have Sam, just arrived, swipe it from his grasp. 

"Harry, you are the worst liar in the Delta Quadrant." Tom chortled, happy at the success of his prank. 

Sam had a pretty good glare of doom herself. "Tom." 

Tom was unfazed. "Just a joke." 

Sam leaned over kissed Harry's cheek. "I know you were eating ration cubes so Naomi could have the meals. Thank you. Pizza's on me tonight."

Tom clapped his hand on Harry's shoulder. "And the beer's on me, buddy." 

**Author's Note:**

> Kidfic is usually not my thing, but at least two prompts in this challenge involve children. 😕
> 
> As tempted as I was to write a story where _Voyager_ is overrun by baby goats, I decided to answer a question the canon usually avoided: what happened to Naomi in those episodes where terrible things happen to the entire crew?


End file.
